Perspectives
Disease definition
Evolving a definition of disease
Correspondence to:
Professor Peter D Gluckman, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand; pd.gluckman@auckland.ac.nz
Perspective on the paper by Reinehr et al (see page 1067)
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Koch and Pasteur provided modern medicine with its primary model of disease – that it has a specific and organic cause. Treatment is generally developed from an understanding of that agent of causation. Generations of medical students have been taught the causes of disease in their pathology classes: genetic, infection, trauma and so on. But for some situations such a model is inadequate. The boundaries between normality and abnormality blur, and can be situational and dependent on when and where an individual lives. Persistence of intestinal lactase function was the co-evolutionary outcome when groups of Homo sapiens started herding cattle and using their milk for food.1 So while northern Europeans and some Africans see lactase intolerance as a disease, and the label implies as much, for much of humanity non-persistence of lactase activity is the evolutionary norm and of no significance in a world, historically at least, largely
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Articles
- Atoms
- Howard Bauchner
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: 1051.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
-
A brief digest of the December issue
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: e12.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Comparison of metabolic syndrome prevalence using eight different definitions: a critical approach
- Thomas Reinehr, Gideon de Sousa, André Michael Toschke, and Werner Andler
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: 1067-1072.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Pirkola, J, Tammelin, T, Bloigu, A, Pouta, A, Laitinen, J, Ruokonen, A, Tapanainen, P, Jarvelin, M-R, Vaarasmaki, M
(2008). Prevalence of metabolic syndrome at age 16 using the International Diabetes Federation paediatric definition. Arch. Dis. Child.
93: 945-951
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Child health
-
Obesity (nutrition)
-
Health education
-
Obesity (public health)
-
Health promotion
- Relevant Articles
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
